Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 222,035 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,306 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.0% of Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A.'s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $34,689,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group dropped their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.88.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6%

Alphabet stock traded down $1.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $175.88. The company had a trading volume of 20,848,122 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,511,658. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $164.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.34. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.